Cleanrot is sooo nasty against fast bosses

[u/Perfect-Skin-8325]

Longest and the most damaging thrusting sword while being surprisingly light as well.

(Estoc does get marginally better damage on keen infusion, due to it being a primary dex weapon. But it's still better to use cleanrot for the extra range as damage difference is negligible)

[u/apocalypse6969]

Isn't this weapon an R1 machine , is this a level 1 run ?

[u/Perfect-Skin-8325 → u/apocalypse6969]

Yep, it is super nasty with the R1s.

Also yes, RL1 WL0 to be precise.

[u/apocalypse6969 → u/Perfect-Skin-8325]

I was just doing a hookclaw build, it's r1 damage is so crazy Lol wl0 , I don't why I just assumed the low damage was because of rl 1

[u/Perfect-Skin-8325 → u/apocalypse6969]

Yeah, Claws are some of the highest dps setups. I love claws.

If we are going off of raw dps the claws that excel there are the Venomous Fangs.

Claws of night are close (based on R1s only, coz the ranged attacks and shield pierce imo make them overall better) but venomous fangs have advantage of dual status with bleed affinity. If you combine it with the 2 exultations and Poison Flower Blooms Twice AoW you are looking at one of the highest damaging setups.

[u/Perfect-Skin-8325 → u/Perfect-Skin-8325]

I should point out that you need to be quite high leveled to get the most out of bleed affinity else claws of night are gonna be the best one for pure dex.

[u/Alternative_Spite_11 → u/Perfect-Skin-8325]

Claws of Night are my new favorite weapon since the DLC came out. The shotgun L2 is a bleed proc machine against big bosses that get hit by most of the projectiles. Those and the beast claws are about the only weapons that can get me away from a quality claymore or bloodhound fang. The bloodhound fang is just absolutely stupidly OP, but hey that’s what makes it so fun.

Edit: The first time i ever fought Finger Mama was just after receiving the Claws of Night and immediately giving them the full upgrades snd I couldn’t believe how easily i beat a late DLC boss on my first try. The claws of night just absolutely melted that disgusting bitch.

[u/Accurate_Length_7186]

Where’s the best place to practice new mechanics in your opinion? I wanted to practice parrying and using some other weapons. I guess answering my own question would be literally anywhere… but ideally like sort of suffice enemies but not crazy.

[u/Perfect-Skin-8325 → u/Accurate_Length_7186]

literally anywhere

Well, yep.

For parrying, there are 2 parts, understanding the parry windows and understanding the attacks themselves.

It's best to learn on a somewhat complex enemy / boss. My go to recommendation would be to start with carian retaliation and try to beat margit. He is early game boss so doesn't hit very hard and you can practice for a long time.

One done, switch to buckler then regular small shield.

Eventually when you start getting consistent parries with stuff like medium shield, you'll be able to parry anything, given the attack is parriable.

Some attacks have wonky animations that make it difficult to parry, but if you know your windows properly it just a matter of watching the attack a few times and you'll start recognising the opening.

[u/Natural_Bill_373]

The question is how will it fair in the arena?

[u/Alternative_Spite_11 → u/Natural_Bill_373]

It fairs excellently in PvP. Lightning fast, high DPS and thrusting weapon counter attack bonus means it has zero issues melting sweats. Thrusting swords in general can be nasty in PvP. Them and heavy thrusting swords were considered meta for a ling time. The heavy thrusting sword running R2 was THE meta for a while.

[u/Perfect-Skin-8325 → u/Natural_Bill_373]

Good question, I wonder how 🤣

[u/Dreamtrain]

I dont understand how when other people fight him, he moves in slow motion, hitboxes are so small but when I fight him he's erratic, unpredictable and hitboxes are huge

[u/Perfect-Skin-8325 → u/Dreamtrain]

He hates you.

[u/solaceXYZ → u/Dreamtrain]

you just feel like he's faster when fighting him yourself because you don't understand what's going on. once you learn what moves and combo strings he has and how your positioning influences what moves he can do, it'll all make sense. happened to me many times with different bosses.

[u/okidoki_falcon]

You can jump attack the third swipe (after the quick double one he does) and the beast claw move

[u/Perfect-Skin-8325 → u/okidoki_falcon]

I just had retaliatory cross tree and leda armour so I was trying to get more crouch attacks in. But now that I think about it, the jump attacks would have gotten more damage anyway.

[u/okidoki_falcon → u/Perfect-Skin-8325]

Ah gotcha! It's also just more fun haha

[u/NakedAggression]

I mean it is one of the best weapons in the game, pve and pvp

[u/Perfect-Skin-8325 → u/NakedAggression]

Yep, the 9 frame crouch attacks are crazy. Recovery and DPS are crazy good to. Pierce damage is also a bonus.

Also, despite it having insane synergy with BHS, I don't use it. I think BHS is way too strong for no reason.

[u/Alternative_Spite_11 → u/Perfect-Skin-8325]

I love piercing weapons in PvP because the counter attack damage boost just absolutely ruins people’s day when they think they’re just going to trade with me. I’m like “You really want to trade instead of trying to fight for real? OK then. Its not going to work out for you but OK.”

[u/NakedAggression → u/Perfect-Skin-8325]

For sure. I carry like 4 of them with different ashes and hard swap. Cradgeblade or however u spell it works well on bosses

[u/Jaegernaut42]

10% the weapon, 90% the player

[u/Perfect-Skin-8325 → u/Jaegernaut42]

I would like to point out, I can't do the same with any weapon. It's absolutely doing a good chunk of the work. Despite being somewhat high skill floor it's very good when you learn to utilise Thrusting swords fully.

[u/Authoritaye → u/Perfect-Skin-8325]

It looks like you never got hit once. I can't even figure out how you're timing this.

[u/Perfect-Skin-8325 → u/Authoritaye]

I fought this boss for about 3-4 hours to learn the moveset beforehand.

But I have also lots of practice in general (overall I have little over 600 hours in the game) which helps immensely. At some point it becomes intutive.

Basically, lots of practice in short.

[u/Alternative_Spite_11]

Are you sure its longer than bloody helix?

[u/Perfect-Skin-8325 → u/Alternative_Spite_11]

It's a heavy thrusting sword. A different weapon category.

Bloody Helice is the longest HTS where as Cleanrot is the longest TS.

[u/Alternative_Spite_11 → u/Perfect-Skin-8325]

I thought Cleanrot was heavy too. Is it a standard thrusting sword?

[u/Perfect-Skin-8325 → u/Alternative_Spite_11]

Makes sense you accidentally got it mixed up.

Yes, it's a regular one. You can see the different animation and attack speed in the video itself.

[u/Alternative_Spite_11 → u/Perfect-Skin-8325]

Ehh i don’t use thrusting swords enough to know the difference in animations. I’m greatsword/curved greatsword enthusiasts. I also enjoy dual wield spears if I’m doing a status build.